How do you store your coins?

I have been trying to figure out how best to store my ancients for months now. I think I would like to put them into vinyl flips with the coin on one side and a description with weight, diameter, and obverse and reverse details on a paper on the other side of the flip. That way I could see the coin and info and also easily take it out if I wanted to.

What do you think? How do you all store your coins?

 

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I use paper envelopes. You can't see the coin through them but that gives the excuse to take the coin out and handle it and not have to look through plastic. It allows the coin to breathe. I like trays better but my collection is too large to fit in the ones I have. The trays I have hold 20, 40 and 77 coins according to the coin size and stack in a case made to fit. Mine are cheap copies. Rich people buy Abfil.

 

This is a popular topic which comes up several times per year. It's fun to see everyone else's solution to this dilemma. There is currently a thread about it on page 1 although the title may have led you to overlook it in context of your question:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/how-do-you-present-your-collection.328777/

Some people may retrieve a selection of coins for special display but for most of us I suspect "presenting" and "storing" amount to the same thing.

Like most of us, I've changed my storage strategy as the collection grew. Hopefully I've settled into a permanent solution, although I wouldn't mind having a nice Abafil case with a few trays for storing certain special coins.

Here's my system:

I wanted neat labels so that meant typing rather than printing. Interesting pedigree information is in red; plate coin information in blue, and unpublished in green. The sticker is place on the outward-facing side of my insert, which is shown in the subsequent image.



I'd already been using business cards (folded in half) as inserts. It requires trimming a bit, and folding, but it looks nice and the stiffness makes insertion and removal from the PVC-free flip much easier. Auction and seller ephemera can be safely tucked in the card too.



I was using half-sized colored boxes but in 2017 sprung for these Whitman plastic boxes. They are fantastic! Each box has two removable dividers so if a box isn't full it keeps the flips from sliding into disarray.



The extensive Roman Egypt trays are amenable to labeling with Emmett numbers, making it easy to find or file coins:



Some of those Ptolemaic bronzes are too large for 2x2 flips so those are put in 2.5 x 2.5" flips and stored in a larger box meant for slabs. I have a few slabs from pre-ancient-collecting days




This system is nicely compact and amenable to storage in a bank's safe deposit box.

 

I like how the trays look. I just don't have room to store them.

 

I didn't know you were that young!

 

I like that @TIF ! Mine are all currently in one of those whitman boxes that I had left over from some world coins. It is nice compact storage.

 

No matter what you put your coins in there is only one ONE surefire way to ensure they are protected. Store them in a warm, moisture free environment. Temperature will destroy them as well as high humidity. I live in New Mexico and the climate here is perfect for collectors. A good rule is that if you see rain or fog it is bad for your collection. My collections are in a warm dry area of my home.
Everyone says that plastic is bad.
Anything will stick to a metal surface if the humidity is too high. You can bet
the mint is temperature controlled and not just for the machine operators.
The General

 

Excellent point. I have two of these rechargeable desiccants stored with my coins:


https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Eva-dry-333-Renewable-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0XFCS

 

I imagine you are always combating humidity where you are.
As our family has grown, I have been pushed down to the basement. Not ideal, but luckily it is quite dry. Just a wee bit chilly.

 

What about a map chest?

$1495.00

$615.00


These antique map chests may cost more than you might want to pay, but you might find a newer one somewhere.

Chris

 

I use a special binder that I can close all the way, and I put my coins in those flips similar as @TIF. Then I put these flips inside polypropylene pocket pages inside the binder. The brand from the pocket pages is: BCW Pro 20-Pocket Pages, Pocket Size: 2" x 2"

 

Not more than I want to pay....but my wife on the other hand....

 

The same style cabinets have been used in numismatics for centuries. Antique and newly build coin cabinets are available. I'd love to have one but space, temperature/humidity, and security are an issue.

Yes. In the months following the hurricanes, when I didn't have electricity, here's what the humidity and temperature were like (UGH!!):

 

I understand the concept of lower humidity for coin storage.. but for ancients that are not "museum quality" is it really necessary? Haven't they been buried in the ground or in streams for many hundreds of years in many cases?

Just a question - not a criticism.. (I do see that TIF's situation is a bit extreme).

 

I use 2x2 Saflips with special folded and punched tags as shown in https://www.cointalk.com/threads/eds-flips.311414/

 

This is a slightly modified version of a post I made in the “Storage & Presentation” thread - but it fits much better here.

I now store - and carry with me everywhere I go - my entire (reduced) collection of twenty Roman Imperial coins in my Messager Bag (MB). Coins are in archival quality paper envelopes together with accompanying attribution tags (tested for pH suitability) and, in turn, strips of three vinyl flips cut from standard commercial sheets They fit neatly in my MB. I write a brief generic coin description on the outside of each envelope so that I can quickly identify them.

I now carry my MB with me wherever I go thus providing me with boundless opportunities to examine and fondle my coins as I wish. As I also carry my iPad with me wherever I go, I can research my coins (mostly via my web pages) at my pleasure. I have numerous opportunities to do that during our frequent (and lengthy) Doctor visits these days.

Some of the reasons why I use this system are — we no longer maintain a bank safe deposit box and I can’t remember the combination to our house safe (it’s complicated); I am worried about the house being burglarized or catching on fire when we are gone and I do not want my coins stolen or burned up - to heck with the house - we can build a new one through our insurance, but I cannot replace many of my coins! ; my coins are always dry; I can easily get them out and fondle, admire & dream about their history when I am sitting in my recliner watching old movies at night; I can show them off to my “old cronies” group when we meet for lunch and tell lies …………… and so on.

I don’t worry about anyone cutting the strap on my MB and absconding with my coins, because the strap incorporates strands of tempered steel that resists all kinds of cutters - I had the clerk who sold it to me demonstrate that before I bought it.

…………… and so on. As they say these days “i’m Loving it”!

Of course, I also carry all of my essential IDs and Credit cards in another pocket of my MB.

 

Mine are stored in paper envelopes inside red coin boxes. All of which are in my bank safe deposit box, other than new arrivals and coins I am currently researching.

Personally, I don't like those mylar free saflips. They are too expensive, brittle, and removing coins from them can be a pain. Coin collectors a hundred years ago used paper envelopes, some of those envelopes are still around today - that's good enough for me.

 

Even eighty years ago - I did - still do!

 

As we used to say when I was a youngster, your storage system is “smashing” TIF! I really like your setup - IMO it is outstanding. But aren’t you aware that cynics say that a clean and well organized workplace is the sign of a sick mind?

 

Antiquarian storage methods just seem right for ancient coins!